


a boy and his robot

by ephemeral_fallacy



Category: Kagerou Project, Mekakucity Actors
Genre: M/M, Robot Feels, android stuff, konoha being cute as a robot, konoha learning things later, lol gratuitous konoshin, shin being kind of mother
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-23
Packaged: 2018-02-12 01:31:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2090781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ephemeral_fallacy/pseuds/ephemeral_fallacy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He wasn’t sure what was in the huge box. It was large, too big to be a figurine and too rectangular to be a...something... But what puzzled him the most was the fact that it had a tiny note on the side, in the neat handwriting he knew by heart</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. dawn

**Author's Note:**

> bbegin gratuitous konoshin//

Shintaro isn’t sure what he’s doing with his life anymore.

 

Before, he wanted to go to college and end up in some prestigious company and bathe in money, but that went down the drain. It’s kind of obvious, because he can’t even set foot outside his own house, let alone his room, without flinching. Is it because of Ayano’s death? It’s probably because of that.

 

He shakes his head and pats his cheek with one hand, the other reaching for a cola. But what comes up is just an empty bottle, red and white, full of familiarity.

 

The black-haired boy mutters something under his breath that he doesn’t even know and trudges towards his door. It looks more like a wall than a door, honestly.

 

Pulling it open, he winces as light smacks him across the face and for a moment, he’s paralyzed. Spiraling stairs, almost glowing an ethereal white, a beige carpet fuzzy underneath his toes, it’s a home that doesn’t even look like his own. It feels like it’s been so long since he’s seen this place.

 

 _One step at a time,_ he instructs himself. _Take your time, don’t rush it._

The stairs loom at him threateningly, looking less like stairs and more like bars of metal heading straight for his face.

 

Shintaro’s hand grips the railing so tightly his knuckles turn white.

 

 _I can’t do this, I can’t, it’s—_ He cuts himself off when a distant noise in the house attracts his attention.

 

He gasps for a moment, before finally reaching the end of the stairs. When he glances behind him, he realizes it wasn’t quite as long as he thought it was, but shrugs it behind him. It’s done. It’s done.

 

Shintaro stumbles his way to the kitchen, his right hand shielding the light from his eyes, as if it hurts. As if his eyes aren't made to take in the brightness the sun doled out on a daily basis. _He isn’t, because she’s gone._

 

 _Why did she have to die?_ He thinks vaguely as he opens the refrigerator and pulls out another two-liter of cola. Before he even closes the door to the fridge, he cracks open the bottle and takes a swig of the sweet, artificially-flavored poison.

 

It tastes just like tears and fake sugar.

 

“Good,” he rasps and slams the fridge door shut, turning to head back into his cave of a room. But his eyes alight on a package beside the table. It’s a standard, brown, shabby-looking box, but too large to be delivered casually by a postman.

 

Shintaro edges closer to it, cautiously, as if it’s an animal poised to strike.

 

It’s large, too big to be a figurine and too rectangular and tall to be anything...else...But as he walks around the box, inspecting it, he notices something that’s not a monotonous brown. It’s a small, white note with a border of pink flowers he can’t bother to name. It looks just like the little set Ayano used to use.

 

He peers at it, leaning closer. Shintaro recognizes the neat, soft handwriting.

 

“Ayano…?” He murmurs confusedly.

 

_“I hope you enjoy my present, Shintaro. Dad and I have worked hard on this.” —Ayano_

 

The black-haired male presses his lips together and clenches his hands, hoping the dull pain of his nails digging into his palm will stop the tears from forming. However, he has to let go to open the box. He desperately scratches at it, finding a hold on one of the sides and pulls down with all of his might.

 

One side falls apart, and inside is the smooth, white, shining surface of another box. It looks like a product from a shop, but Shintaro knows it’s not.

 

He peels apart the brown and reveals the white on the inside and stares at it. Is there something else within the box? By now, the mere effort it took to rip apart the outer layer has left Shintaro a little winded. He's not used to physical labor, and to bandage his ego, the box is pretty large.

 

However, he doesn't even need to lift a finger, because from one of the sides of the white box, it falls to the ground by itself. Shintaro is so shocked, he jumps up and collapses in a heavily-panting heap of clothes, bone, and furious heartbeats. The poor boy isn't even prepared when a humanoid thing comes out of it.

 

It has smooth, pale skin and ivory white hair. There's a mark on its right cheek, below its closed eyes, and it looks like two connected circles. He's dressed quite strangely: a black, scarf-like cloth around his neck, a loose white shirt with a black undershirt...and what are those strange, suspender-like attachments hanging around his legs?? It looks like it came straight out of a game, to be honest.

 

Its eyes are still closed, but the second Shintaro moves slightly, they snap open. Pink, slightly unfocused, but _glowing_ eyes immediately latch onto the frightened, black-haired male.

 

"I am Kokonose Konoha, designed and created by Tateyama Kenjirou and Tateyama Ayano," it begins, and his voice is surprisingly unrobotic; it's just a tad metallic, but the tone is deep and comforting. "I was made for the sole purpose to please my user. My user is specified to be Kisaragi Shintaro."

 

Konoha leans closer down to Shintaro. "Are you Kisaragi Shintaro?"

 

The only thing he can do is nod and hope the robot doesn't suddenly try to kill him for reasons unknown. It’s not unexpected if Ayano’s dad programmed him.

 

Konoha's eyes visibly brighten, because there's now a pink glow that's seemingly scanning Shintaro. "Yes, confirmed. You are Kisaragi Shintaro." It leans down to peer eye-to-eye with the male and a smile crosses the white-haired android's face.

 

"I exist to make you happy. Are you happy as of right now?" It questions him with a tilt of its head. White hair flops to the side and Shintaro can't help but vaguely wonder if it's as soft as it looks.

 

"Master?" Shintaro jerks up with a surprised expression and Konoha only stares back.

 

" **Responded in shock** ," the robot's voice suddenly assumes a stereotypical data-analyzing tone. " **Possible discontent with being called 'Master.' Otherwise, continue addressing 'Kisaragi Shintaro' as such.** " But just like that, he reverts to his normal voice.

 

"Is there a problem that I can take care of?" Its voice sounds so happy, so complacent, that Shintaro can't help but respond this time.

 

"Yes," he manages to croak out and Konoha edges closer, almost like an excited child waiting for a toy.

 

"What can I do for you, Master?" The android almost exclaims, and when he scoots towards Shintaro, the human boy can hear the buzzing and humming of electricity and machinery from within him.

 

"Bring back that happiness, Kokonose Konoha," Shintaro whispers, his eyes wide. He doesn't know why he had to say the robot's entire name. Kind, compassionate, pink eyes blink, then close into a smile.

 

"Yes, Master!"

 

But what Shintaro really meant was, _bring her back to me_.

 


	2. sunrise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> goddammit, Ayano.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slight Konoha OOC-ness  
> I don't own any of the characters;;

It's been established that Konoha is a boy.

The second Shintaro introduced him to his room, the robot had stripped down and jumped onto the bed with a squeal. Probably something silly Ayano programmed into the male. At that time, it surprised him to realize that someone had actually made the effort to form realistic genitalia on the android, but he figured it was either Ayano’s version of a prank, or Professor Tateyama’s version of teasing.

Now, Konoha is wearing all of his clothes, the loose, sack-like clothing he came with, looking a little forlorn in the corner of the room. His eyes roam the expanse of floor that can barely be seen; it's strewn with new clothes, old clothes, junk, and empty soda bottles. If anything, the expression on the robot’s face is disgusted.

But Shintaro doesn’t really care.

His headphones are on and fingers fly over the keyboard. Occasionally, he moves more than just his eyes and his hands to reach for the soda bottles. An automatic function, just like a robot set on cruise control. He seems more of a robot than the actual one in the room, because Konoha is moving a lot less robotic than him.

The white-haired male gets up with a frustrated pout and bends over to pick up the various articles of clothing haphazardly tossed all over the ground.

“Master,” he whines slightly, but there’s no visible response from the black-haired male.

“Master…!” Konoha repeats and treads towards Shintaro. Before his hand reaches his shoulder, Shintaro turns around suddenly, his headphones dropping around his neck, and the android flinches because of the irritation flaring in those black eyes.

For a moment, there’s pure silence between the two of them. The hum of the computer and of the faint music blaring from headphones feels invasive.

“...Sorry,” the black-haired male mutters and runs a tired hand through tired hair; his anger fizzles out like a silenced candle. “I...don’t know what came over me.” And now he feels stupid, yelling and then apologizing to a robot that probably doesn’t even know what the feeling of hurt is…

Shintaro looks up and there are tears forming in those artificial pink eyes.

“U-uh??” The NEET is clearly panicking now as he stands up quickly, accidentally pulling out his headphone jack with a painful-sounding crack. “K-Konoha..?”

The android blinks and furiously scrubs at his eyes with his sleeve. “Sorry, Master. I didn’t mean to upset you…” Although the tears are falling quickly down his cheeks, there’s no crack in his voice, no pathetic wobbling, none of the characteristics that real-life, crying people have. Perhaps that’s what disturbs Shintaro the most, because he looks so human but...isn't. At the same time.

“H-hey…” The black-haired male reaches out and grasps the robot’s shoulder, in a feeble attempt to quell the maelstrom of tears, to try and comfort the poor thing, but it just makes Konoha tear up faster.

“I’m sorry, Master. I don't know why...I'm crying...Having you comfort me is not an action I want you to do. Please, do not worry about me,” he whispers and gently pushes Shintaro’s hands off of him.

The only thing he can do is watch poor Konoha try to compose himself, feeling worse and worse every second.

"H-hey, how about let's do something...?" He doesn't even know how to phrase a friendly sentence; he hasn't interacted with anyone for the past few months and people have given up interacting with him.

"Like...what?" The thing Shintaro can do is pick up the note of curiosity in Konoha's voice as he sniffles. His crying is less intense and the NEET is so glad the robot's composure is back.

"Mm, what do you want to see...or do?" The black-haired man scratches the back of his head and pulls at his pant leg slightly.

Konoha blinks slowly and he can almost see the gears moving inside his artificial skull. Then he asks, "Can I look at food?"

"Food?" Shintaro's slightly taken aback, but he nods and twitches slightly. "Yeah…?"

"Really?" The android's eyes glow and a little happy smile appears on his face that makes Shintaro a little guilty that he can't step outside to show him what the world really looks like. "Ayano and Professor Tateyama have not programmed the names and appearances of various foods that humans eat, so I would like to see them with my own eyes. Unfortunately, they have not given me the capability of taste, but they have said I can ingest food..."

Shintaro unconsciously reaches out and ruffles Konoha's hair. It's soft, so soft, and he wants to touch it more, but the android's eyes are so wide that the NEET flinches and withdraws.

He can see the question marks floating above his head right now and really doesn't want to deal with it...

Hiding an embarrassed blush by turning away, Shintaro mutters, "I'll show you something. C'mon," and quite literally runs out of his room.

 

* * *

 

Shintaro feels extremely awkward and uncomfortable because the android is absolutely enthralled by the prospect of _instant ramen._

"All you have to do is add hot water?" Konoha peers closer over the NEET's shoulder with a wide-eyed, awestruck expression. "How does it work? Food is supposed to be made on a stove, right?"

Shintaro withholds a sigh and answers, "The ramen noodles are dehydrated when they're made, so adding hot water rehydrates them. It's really simple."

The android nods fervently and his pink eyes glow. " **Dehydrated ramen noodles, cataloged**."

"...Do you always have to do that, uh, 'cataloging,' thing?" Shintaro hesitantly asks and Konoha nods as the two of them pad back up the stairs. The NEET has heard noises from his sister's room and he really doesn't want to be questioned by her as to why they have a new resident in the Kisaragi household.

"Yes, it is required of me, since I must remember everything that Master mentions, even if just once. The only way I can remember is through cataloging," the robot replies, and continues staring at the ramen cup in Shintaro's hands.

"Ah..." Shintaro can only nod his head and walk back into the comfort of his cluttered, familiar bedroom while Konoha respectfully closes the door with a soft click.

The android shuffles beside Shintaro and watches with fascination as the young man pulls back the flap and reveals a batch of steaming noodles, bits of green floating in the murky caramel-brown broth.

Konoha's eyes brighten yet again. "So that is what instant ramen looks like."

Shintaro shrugs and adds, "It's not as good as actual ramen, but it's what I eat for a majority of the day."

The android leans closer, until his shoulder knocks into the NEET's. The black-haired boy flinches, but at the realization that Konoha didn't notice, relaxes, but refuses to make physical contact afterward. "Is it healthy?" The white-haired being asks, turning to stare at Shintaro.

"Ramen? Sure..." Shintaro trails off and refuses to meet Konoha's eyes, which prompts the android to pipe up,

"Can we go to look at non-instant ramen one day?"

With the puppy-dog eyes pleading with him, it's extremely hard to say no, and Shintaro's fear of the outside crumbles against the might of Konoha's cute, begging face.

 

* * *

 

After finishing the ramen, Shintaro has his headphones back on again and his fingers are mechanically tap-tapping away at his keyboard, click-clicking with his mouse.

He doesn’t notice Konoha busily walking back and forth, first grabbing the hamper and loading all the clothes from the ground into the container. The next time there’s a damp rag in his hand and his expression is very serious. He rubs down all the furniture that isn’t the desk and grimaces at the layer of fine, fluffy, gray dust on the cloth.

No one disturbs the two of them, even though the android is a lot noisier than Shintaro; a dead giveaway someone else was living there would be the fact that the washing machine was rolling.

However, even through all the noise and the half-hearted smiles of victory from Konoha, the NEET hasn’t even blinked away from his screen.

The robot frowns, and continues folding clothes.

He doesn’t know which drawers to put them in, so he basically puts them in order of undershirts, underwear, shirt, pants, jackets….cola??

“Master…” Konoha’s face blanches as he fishes out several cola bottles and a packet of indecipherable snack that has expired over two years ago.

 

* * *

 

It’s about 2AM and well into the next day when Shintaro tears himself away from the computer. He rolls his shoulders and winces internally as he listens to his stiff bones grind against each other. He feels like an unoiled robot... Then he sees Konoha, sleeping in a kneeling position by his bed, surrounded by neatly folded clothing, still warm, for some reason, his head resting on his arms on the bed.

“Do robots need to sleep…?” Shintaro raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t question it. Maybe he just needs a recharge...speaking of which, does Konoha _need_ to recharge?

The NEET makes a note of it to ask the android tomorrow, when he’s awake. The package didn’t include a cord or anything, anyway.

Shintaro shuffles his way towards the clothing and a small smile overtakes his face. It softens his features to the point where he doesn’t look as sickly and pale, and perhaps, looks like a normal person who’s just a little untanned.

He tries not to wake up the robot, but his awkward knees somehow get tangled in headphones and the darned thing falls to the ground, bringing with it some scattered papers and his mouse.

Under his breath, he curses and moves to pick everything up, but stops when he hears a small, sleepy grunt from behind him.

“Sorry to wake you up, Konoha,” Shintaro mutters and picks up everything hurriedly.

“It is okay…” The white-haired robot rubs at his eyes and blinks slowly, then moves to get up, only to stumble.

“They really did program a lot of human stuff onto you,” the NEET muses aloud. Konoha doesn't reply. After disposing of the mess in his hands onto his table, Shintaro hesitantly picks up a pile of shirts. Red, the color of heroes, sits on the top and he purses his lips, but pushes the memories away.

“Wow,” Shintaro breathes and smashes his face into the warm, clean clothes. They smell faintly of a scent he used to know, but he can’t name anymore because it’s all part of a distant memory locked in the recesses of his heart. “...Thanks, Konoha.”

It feels strange to say those words. _Thanks, wow, sorry,_ they’re words that haven’t escaped his lips in months and they’re alien to him.

The android replies almost instantaneously, “You are welcome, Master.”

And Shintaro smiles. It's a start, barely, but the first step.

But even through his budding fondness for the android, he knows it's probably too good to be true. Something is going to go wrong, and he'll suffer, again, like last time. He's done with suffering; _why else would he have locked himself up in a place where no one could touch him again?_

"Hey, Konoha?"

"Mhm...?" The white-haired male's eyes flicker to Shintaro, then back to the bed.

“Is it possible for you to...have another master?” He refuses to make eye contact, because by the shuffling and the soft grunting, Konoha has stood up. He doesn't want to see wide, pink eyes.

"It is not programmed in my system to recognize a different master," Konoha replies and Shintaro musters up the strength to look at him in the face.

His head is tilted, cutely. His eyes are focused on him, and it feels like he's burning a hole in his rumpled, red-themed clothing.

"But it can be done?" Shintaro presses on and Konoha nods, almost reluctantly.

"...I do not want to have another master, though," the android adds, almost like an afterthought. He clenches his fist and almost shouts, "I am pleased to have **Kisaragi Shintaro** as a master and I am happy to serve him for as long as he allows me to!"

He looks so determined.

The NEET bites his lip and tries to crush the tiny blossoming seed that's trying to tell him that he's already started to become fond of the clueless, cheerful, and most importantly, _cute_ , android living with him...

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> waow

**Author's Note:**

> //not the end of this gratuitous konoshin  
> there will be the 9 more cute  
> be rdy


End file.
